temper
/ˈtɛmpɚ/ verb C2- To moderate or control. · Temper your language around children.
- To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal.
- To adjust the temperature of an ingredient (e.g. eggs or chocolate) gradually so that it remains smooth and pleasing.
- To sauté spices in ghee or oil to release essential oils for flavouring a dish in South Asian cuisine.
- To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency.
- To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use.
He/she/it tempers · Past tempered · Past participle tempered · -ing form tempering
Verb forms
- Base form
- temper
- He/she/it
- tempers
- Past
- tempered
- Past participle
- tempered
- -ing form
- tempering
From the library
“Did anybody ever see such a temper!” exclaimed the horrified Mrs.
“Marilla Cuthbert, you don’t mean to say that you are upholding her in such a terrible display of temper as we’ve just seen?” demanded Mrs.
I promise you that to make up for her want of loyalty, I will be most inflexibly severe;” then casting an expressive glance at his betrothed, which seemed to say, “Fear not, for your dear sake my justice shall be tempered with mercy,” and receiving a sweet and approving smile in return, Villefort departed with paradise in his heart.
After a time, perceiving the meekness and gentleness of the beast’s temper, he summoned courage enough to approach him.
Other matches
Learn temper in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.